A Very Songbird Sequel
by DoeEyedDarling
Summary: A month after James Frederick is put behind bars, Shawn is awaiting Abigail's return, Gus is still on the search for love, Juliet is still fabulous, Lassie is still hiding his Starbucks addiction, and Aria is still doing her best to appear normal. But normalcy is hard to come by in the line of psychic detective work, and the sudden appearance of a certain Mr. Yin isn't helping.
1. Chapter 1

Can I please come with? Please please pleasepleasepleeeeaaaaase," the girl begged, clasping her hands in front of her face as she flashed Bambi eyes at the two men in front of her. She pouted and flung herself back on the bed when they both shook their heads solemnly. "Being grounded blows," she grumbled, crossing her arms and kicking her legs in frustration.

"Aria," Shawn began, trying to reason with the girl, "this is kind of what happens when you lie to a parent."

"Says the man whose entire career and relationship is built upon a series of lies?" she pointed out. "And, let me get this straight. A raging sociopath decides he should kidnap me, and I'm the one who gets punished? How is that fair?"

"You're right. It's not fair," he responded, and Aria, raising her head, saw him softening a bit. Yes! Come on, come on, just one moment of indecisiveness, that's all I need. But her hopes were dashed when she saw him exchange a look with Gus. "Look, can you blame me for being worried? And you're never going to take me seriously if I don't carry through with at least one of my threats."

"Like I ever took you seriously to begin with…" she muttered. "Gus?" she asked, giving him a hopeful grin, but he just raised his hands as if to say, Don't bring me into this. "Ugh, fine. Go on, enjoy your movie, leave me here to suffer by myself."

"Movies," Gus corrected eagerly. "It's a triple feature." He stopped and cleared his throat uncomfortably when he saw Shawn giving him a withering look. "But, uh, they aren't really Hitchcock's best movies, so you aren't really missing out-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," she interrupted him.

"Look, this is your last day of being grounded, anyway," Shawn tried.

Aria jumped on his words. "Yes! Exactly! It's been nearly a month, and I'm really bored, and it really sucks, which is why you should lift my prison sentence and let me come with you!"

"Hey!" Henry poked his head in the room. "Is it really that torturous staying over here for the night?"

"No, no, no! Henry, no, it's not that I don't want to be here! It's not that at all. It's just…" she paused, trying to think of a better way to put it. "Well, I don't really want to be here. Not tonight, anyway." She cocked her head apologetically, before turning her attention back to her adoptive father and his best friend. "Please?" she whimpered, giving both men the patented puppy dog eyes and pout that she had gotten down to a near science.

Shawn clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Fine! Fine, go get your coat." The girl squealed in delight, running past them for the stairs. In response to Gus and Henry's disapproving stares, Shawn just shrugged helplessly. "What? You saw the look, she gave me the look." Henry walked away, and Gus headed for the stairs. "Guys, come on! She gave me the look!"

* * *

LONG TIME NO SEE, MY DUDES.

To sum up the past couple of years: I graduated high school! Currently a freshman at my dream college! Life is busy but good!

Found this file from 2015 while going through my drive and thought it might be nice to come back home :) If you've never read my first Psych story, I'd love for you to check it out (though do be warned, that story AND the first few chapters of this one are relics from when I was in my early-mid teens, and it is a very shameless, currently unedited self-insert. But it made me happy writing it haha).

Be sure to review if you like this, and I'll see ya next time!

xoxo,

DoeEyedDarling


	2. Chapter 2

Something was wrong with Aria Starling-Spencer.

Shawn couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, because she wouldn't admit it. The bruises healed, her voice returned, and within the month she was prancing around like her normal hyperactive self, singing and dancing and bugging Lassie to no end. And the whole time, Shawn was reminded of the day she was taken from the hospital. How she forced a smile right up until the moment she collapsed. How she denied being hurt when the physical evidence clearly indicated otherwise. Or now, how, after being rescued, she declined Vick's offer of a therapist.

She'd been so badly damaged already; he couldn't let her fall apart again. But putting Aria back together again was difficult when she acted as though she'd never broken to begin with.

* * *

"That was so good!" Aria said happily, practically skipping out of the theater. "And omigod, FREEDOM! Like, I forgot what it was like having a life outside of school." She barely noticed that the other two were engaged in conversation with each other, but halted mid bounce when she saw them stop in front of a thin, redheaded man holding an umbrella.

"Mary Lightly," Shawn said, looking at the newcomer.

Aria leaned in to Shawn, tugging on his sleeve. "Um, his name is _what_?" she whispered.

Mary smiled. "You like pie?"

* * *

Once they were in the diner, after introductions and a very brief explanation as to why they had a teenage girl in tow, Shawn wasted no time getting to the point. "Mary, you seem disturbed, even more so than usual. Why don't you tell us what's really on your mind?"

Mary dropped a book on the table. "I'm assuming you've read this?" Aria reached out to pull the book towards her.

"Are you kidding? We're in it! If I'm not mistaken, and I am paraphrasing here, I'm introduced on page 11 as a 'thick-tufted boy genius who ice skates through life on polished blades of snarky eloquence' "

Aria flipped forward a few pages. "That's an exact quote, Shawn."

"And do you see what I'm described as?" Gus asked irately.

She scanned the text, running her finger down the page. "Uh... 'Shawn Spencer, thick-tufted boy genius'…blah blah blah… here it is, 'Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside, Burton 'Gus' Guster is the fastidious wrinkle in the brow of Psych.' "

"Hmph."

"Come on, man, she also said you have skin of pure cocoa velvetiness," Shawn offered, reaching over to pat Gus's head.

Gus jerked away. "Yeah, and she also said she would like to use that skin to make children's dolls, Shawn."

"I'd buy that doll." Mary ignored the other three's horrified glances, continuing, "The point is, Shawn, you know Yang almost as well as I do. You're the only other person who would know that none of this is possible." When he received no response, he pressed on, becoming visibly agitated. "Come on, Shawn! The projectionist? We didn't get to the drive-in till eleven twenty six. How would Yang have had the time to do all that _and_ strap your mother down with incendiary explosives?"

Aria's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Is there something I'm missing here?"

"It's a long story," Shawn said dismissively, before turning back to the man sitting across the table. "Look, Mary, I know Yang was a big part of your life, but she is behind electronic gates now, and she can't hurt anyone."

"Yang wasn't working alone."

Shawn felt his blood turn to ice at the words. "You didn't give raquetball a fair shake, did you?"

"I will not wear short pants, Shawn." Mary stared at him, not blinking once.

'I think it's time for you to go home, Mary."

"Yes," Gus agreed, nodding emphatically.

Mary sat up straighter in the booth. "I am home. I live here."

"Say what?"

"I never left Santa Barbara, I've been here since we caught Yang."

Shawn smacked the table, standing up as he did so. "You should have told us. We would have gotten you a house chilling gift." Gus nodded, placing a twenty on the table. "A belated welcome to you, and forever good-bye."

Aria and Gus didn't even make it out of the booth before Mary grabbed Shawn's arm menacingly. "Don't go, Shawn. You will regret it."

"Good luck at the creepy arm grab awards this year, Mary. I think you have a real shot at winning," Shawn said after an uncomfortable moment, prying off Mary's hand and dropping it gingerly on the table.

* * *

Aria waited they were in the car and a good ways away from the diner before launching in. "How do you know that guy? Why was he talking about bombs? And who's Yang? Wh-"

"Slow down!" Shawn said, raising his arms in the universal _Whoa, Nelly_ signal. "What is this, the Spanish Exposition?"

"It's the Spanish _Inquisition_ , Shawn," Gus corrected, waving goodbye to the other two as they exited the car and headed towards the dry-cleaners-turned-apartment.

"I've heard it both ways, "Shawn muttered when they were out of earshot. "Long story short, Mr. Yang, serial killer, left us clues, kidnapped my mom, he turned out to be a she, and now she's in a mental institution." He craned his neck to face her. "Did that make sense?"

"Um...sure? But Mary - I'm sorry, I just can't take him seriously with that name." She started over. "Mr. Lightly said, 'Yang wasn't working alone.' "

"Yes."

"So there's another serial killer out there."

Although she tried to hide it, Shawn heard a slight tremor enter Aria's voice. Looking down, he saw that she was keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the ground before her, her jaw clenched but wobbling in the classic "trying not to cry" position. "Aria." She continued to stare at her feet. "Aria, look at me." Reluctantly, she complied, and as they made eye contact, Shawn could see that her eyes were glossed over, with more clear liquid pooling at the bottom. "Listen, I have a little piece of paper that says that I am your legal guardian, and that I have to take care of you, and that is exactly what I'm going to do. Okay?" She nodded, trying to smile, but couldn't keep one stubborn tear from running over, sparkling on her cheek in the bright glow of the street lamps. He pulled her in for a hug, stroking her hair and making comforting shushing noises. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." _Yeah, it's a little late for that_ , said a little voice in the back of his mind, accompanied by a pang of guilt. "Besides, Mary was wrong. It was just wishful thinking. I mean, the man spent years of his life studying the cases of Mr. Yang, he's just going through withdrawal."

"That's sick," she choked out, the tears turning to full-blown sobs. "That someone would-could be fascinated by something like that. He has no idea what it's like to-to-"

"Yeah, I know," Shawn agreed, tightening his arms around his daughter. "But the point is, it's not true. Okay? The Yin Yang murders are over and done with, and he-she-is never coming back."


	3. Chapter 3

Aria choked when she saw the body. Despite Shawn and Gus's protests, she'd convinced them to let her follow them to crime scenes. She finally won out when they realized it would be easier to keep an eye on her if she was there with them. "It'll be therapeutic," she'd said. "I don't think there's anything more for me to be afraid of at this point."

But the woman lying on the ground struck a new nerve with Aria. Her conversation with Shawn the previous night had eased her fears slightly, but she'd still had trouble falling asleep. The nightmares had returned for the first time in a month, and all because Mary Lightly had scared her with his far-fetched theory about Yang having an accomplice.

Seeing Shawn squint at the body, she took a tentative step forward, scanning the arrangement of the woman, the rock on either side...

"Oh, my God," she whispered, looking back at Shawn. "He was telling the truth."


End file.
